MENTORING AND LEADERSHIP BLOG

Success Coaching

Success Coaching and Learning Strategies is part of the Transitional and Enrichment Programs and Services unit in the Office of Educational Opportunity and Enrichment Services. I started success coaching around the time the COVID pandemic was beginning. As success coaches, we meet with undergraduate students to help them take control of their academic, personal, and professional success. Our main goal is to facilitate student reflection and realization by asking questions, so they arrive at a solution to the barriers that keep them from their personal idea of success. We also share time-management tips, studying strategies, and organizational resources.

As for my personal coaching style, I leverage the use of technology — such as text-to-speech, transcription services, and browser efficiency tools, among others — to help students adapt to university demands in a way that works with their unique learning styles. I also like leaving each coachee with university/life hacks at the end of coaching sessions that may one day be helpful to them both in and beyond UC Davis.

Undergraduates can set appointments through the UC Davis Advising Appointment System

Transfer Edge Instructor

In 2021, I had the amazing opportunity to teach the transfer seminar course for UC Davis’s Transfer Edge program. Transfer Edge is a 6-week UC Davis summer program designed to introduce incoming first-generation, low-income transfer students to UC Davis before the fall quarter begins. The 6-unit program offers participants the opportunity to fulfill two courses: a first-year seminar and an upper-division writing course. The program provides students with added exposure to UC Davis student support services to ease the transition from a community college to a research university.

Professors for the Future Fellow 2020-2021

In order to make meaningful connections, I integrate a teacher-as-mentor identity whenever I am inside the classroom to cultivate meaningful and trusting classroom relationships. Building connections with students results in increased engagement, even when confronted with rigorous tasks (Rogers, 1969). In addition, mentoring better prepares educators to be leaders, whether it be in higher education or beyond (DeJong, 2016; Beck and Grohowski, 2016).

The approach also provides the necessary tools that could help instructors:
1. learn from students
2. advocate for their well-being
3. create accessible and inclusive classrooms
4. align our goals to our students’ needs
5. empower students to be leaders and mentors
6. relate class content to the world
7. build camaraderie while maintaining boundaries

I am honored to be one of the 15 doctoral and post-doctoral scholars chosen for the UC Davis Professors for The Future Fellowship 2020-2021. This opportunity provides me with the resources needed to hold a workshop series called “Teaching-as-mentoring: Professional development through purposeful teaching.” The goal of this project is to help graduate students and postdoctoral scholars unlock the inspiring aspects of being a leader and an instructor.

Teaching Assistant Consulting Fellow

I am also a Teaching Assistant Consulting (TAC) fellow under the UC Davis Center for Educational Effectiveness. TAC aims to improve undergraduate education by working closely with graduate students Teaching Assistants (TAs) and Associate Instructors (AIs) in strengthening their teaching practices. To do this, the TACs design workshops aimed at improving instruction, engagement, and student learning. We are also involved in the planning and facilitation of the annual TA orientation. Lastly, TACs conduct one-on-one consultations to discuss teaching and learning, as well as various types of classroom observations. Check out some of TAC’s workshops on the video page.

Teaching Assistant Consultants — Teaching Assistant Consultant Fellows

First Generation Graduate Student Initiative

Having gone through the stress of starting graduate school and having no one to answer my questions, I decided to take on a mentoring role for the UC Davis First Generation Graduate Initiative. Thanks to a friend a fellow TAC fellow, Slande Erole, for getting me involved in this meaningful opportunity.

Discourse Lab

Together with Professor Vaidehi Ramanathan, I started the Discourse Lab, with the goal of training undergraduate students in analyzing the language found in various forms of discourse. Click here to go to the lab page.

VU University, Black Europe Summer School, Echo, and New Urban Collective

Four undergraduate students from the University of California, Los Angeles, were selected to participate in an exchange program with Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. We attended graduate-level courses at the 7th annual Summer School on Black Europe, hosted by the International Institute for Research and Education (IIRE) in collaboration with The Center of Study and Investigation for Global Dialogues in Barcelona, Spain. This intensive two-week program, scheduled from June 23rd to July 4th, 2014, focused on the origins of Black Europe and examined the impact of its legacies on current policies, social organizations, and legislation. The students were chosen based on their ability to address these inclusivity issues through their own area of study. I was lucky to be one of those undergraduates chosen in the Summer of 2014.

We were able to participate in the Black Europe Summer School, a seminar class that discusses the African Diaspora in Europe. We also engaged in dialogues concerning various Dutch cultural issues and policy planning with the student body and various young leaders. We also collaborated with service organizations such as Echo and New Urban Collective. One of the highlights of the trip is discussing the state of the Red Light District with the former alderman-central.

Black Europe Summer School with Dr. Essed

Welcome party at VU with Mr. Wim Haan, diversity coordinator

Amsterdam Tour with Mr. Wim Haan, VU diversity coordinator

With former Alderman-central of Red Light District

Cluster on Language Research and Linguistic Graduate Student Association

While at UC Davis, I served as both supporting and lead chair for the Linguistic Graduate Student Association. In 2019, I was also elected as a co-chair for the Cluster on Language Research an interdepartmental organization run by graduate students from both the Linguistics and the Spanish and Portuguese departments. We draw our diverse membership from a handful of UC Davis departments, including Education, Psychology, Computer Science, Native American Studies, Mathematics, as well as various language departments like French, German, and Japanese, among others. My co-chair, Daniela Cerbino, and I were responsible for planning and organizing the annual language symposium. For our biweekly meetings, we invited speakers and panelists who conduct language-related research to give presentations as well as invite faculty members to lead professional development workshops for our members.

6th Cluster on Language Research Symposium

5th UC Davis Language Symposium — 5th Cluster on Language Research Symposium

Linguistics Graduate Student Association Social

2019 Linguistic Institute Publicity Director

During the 2019 Linguistic Society of America (LSA) Institute, I was in charge of everything involving publicity, which includes leading an amazing group of volunteers known as the publicity committee. I worked on event videography, photography, designing graphics, merchandise and poster, website, promotional materials, social media content, and volunteer training. I also coordinated with the United Nations since the Institute takes place in the Year of Indigenous Languages.

LSA Friends — Out in Davis with new Linguist friends

Peter Torres LSA Work — Live Tweeting: Plenary Talk

Peter Torres LSA Poster — Poster Session Presentation

Linguistic Institute Staff — Closing Ceremony with the staff

LSA Field Methods — w/ Patricia Cukor-Avila Field Methods

LSA Institute Volunteers — Volunteers final pre-Institute meeting

Peter Torres: Faculty Orientation — Working: Faculty Orientation

Peter Torres Working: Faculty Orientation

Center for Community College Partnerships

As an undergraduate at UCLA, I also had the privilege of working for the Center for Community College Partnership (CCCP) as a peer mentor to a cohort of transfer applicants from underrepresented communities. I know first hand the difficulties of navigating the application process, being the first in my family to apply to an American university. This opportunity exposed me to the many inequalities encountered by those with limited resources. Perhaps my most significant mentoring accomplishment was witnessing my cohort live up to their potential and receive admission to universities such as UCLA, UC-Berkeley, and Columbia. After a year as a mentor, I took on the role of scholars program assistant, in charge of putting together the quarterly Saturday academies— where our cohort of around 300 students from different community colleges attend a day of workshops, panels, and talks at the UCLA campus. CCCP was pretty much my second home when I was an undergraduate. Until now, I think about how much I enjoyed the company of the other peer mentors and the staff.

High School talk about various avenues to college

Pilipino Transfer Student Partnership

I met a lot of great friends while serving as the Financial Coordinator of the Pilipino Transfer Student Partnership (PTSP) during my undergraduate years. It was a great opportunity for me to be a part of an organization that fosters a sense of community for Filipinx transfer students at UCLA.